The Turnaround Kid

What I Learned Rescuing America's Most Troubled Companies

About the Book

For the past thirty years, Steve Miller has done the messy, unpleasant work of salvaging America's lost companies with such success that the Wall Street Journal has dubbed him "U.S. Industry's Mr. Fix It." From his very first crisis assignment as point man for Lee Iaccoca's rescue team at Chrysler, Miller built an international reputation while fixing major problems in such varied industries as steel, construction, and health care. Most recently, as chairman and CEO of the bankrupt automotive parts manufacturer Delphi Corporation, he has confronted head-on the major issues threatening the survival of Detroit's Big Three.

A battle is being fought in the heart of industrial America—or what is left of it—Miller observes. In the auto industry as well as every manufacturing corporation, management and labor are at loggerheads over wages and the skyrocketing costs of employee benefits. The way out of this battle is often painful and Miller is deeply aware of the high price individual workers and many communities have had to pay as a result.

In this frank and unsparing memoir, Miller reveals a rarely seen side of American management. Miller recounts the inside story of the many turnaround jobs that have led to his renown as Mr. Fix It. But he also paints an intimate picture of his relationship with Maggie Miller, his wife of forty years, with whom Miller shares the credit for his success. Described by Miller as "my mentor and tormentor," Maggie served as his most trusted adviser and kept him focused on what truly matters until her death from brain cancer in 2006.

A deeply moving personal story and timely snapshot of the state of American manufacturing and what it will take to restore it to profitability, The Turnaround Kid is Steve Miller's fascinating look at his education as an American executive.

Educator and Librarian Resources

Critical Praise

“When corporate executives sit down to write a book, the result is often a bland recitation of accomplishments, a few charmingly self-deprecating admissions of mistakes, and a handful of business formulas that might help you, the reader, achieve similar success. The Turnaround Kid is not one of those books.” —

“Robert S. ‘Steve’ Miller, the chairman of Delphi Corp., gives us a boardroom seat--at the auto-parts maker and other troubled companies he has headed--during moments of crisis. But he also relates deeply personal stories. And he takes jabs at folks whose paths he might cross again.” —

“What I like about the business parts is that Miller. . . doesn’t pretend to be perfect. He discusses mistakes made on his watch. . . . [W]e get to see something that’s oh so rare: a businessman in full.” —

“This is no dull, vain accounting of a power broker: Miller talks about his turnarounds warts and all and opens up about his family life and why Lee Iacocca annoys him.” —

“Miller describes his Herculean efforts to save what he could of these troubled behemoths.... This book...contains some valuable...lessons.” —

“The outspokenness [Miller] is known for is evident throughout. . . but the memoir is also deeply personal. . . . Miller writes movingly of his wife of nearly 40 years, who waged a three-month battle with an inoperable brain tumor that ended in her death in 2006.” —

“[A] freewheeling tale of corporate crises” —

“Miller resists the temptation to burnish his own legacy, frankly examining his failures along with his successes while also sympathetically recounting the struggles of his late wife, who died of cancer as he fought to keep Delphi going.” —

“A riveting tale. . . . a highly engrossing memoir, poignantly leavened by the story of the untimely death of Miller’s wife. No one executive can fix all of corporate America, but Miller came close.” —

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